IN A RUSH - does anyone know California requirements for bringing a cat from Canada??

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

We HAVE used petsafe going to Nicaragua....and I used them again on the way back to USA. On the way there petafe handled everything..They were the last items loaded--we saw that as the Petsafe van dropped them off...and they were the 1st items off in houston..as we saw the petsafe van pick them up. They were excellent. I will be using them again when I head to Ecuador. And our animals are like our kids, so they are very well taken care of. Our cats fly in cabin.

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause offense. It's just that the Petsafe program's quality has changed in recent years as United acquired more airlines. Everyone used to agree that it was an amazing program, but the stories for the past 2-3 years have been less positive, so it's a good idea to double check each waypoint, just to be sure. I wasn't just stating it for your purposes, but for the purposes of anyone needing to transport a pet. Last year, a woman watched her animal sit on the hot tarmac for ages while she was stuck in the plane unable to escape to go rescue her dog, who later died, while using the Petsafe program, for example. There are also reports of them refusing to report animal deaths to the USDA as required because the animals died later and not during actual transit, but were delivered so ill from heat exhaustion and dehydration that the animals died in a veterinary hospital later on.

Petsafe used to be amazing, but reports of declining quality in the program mean that I urge anyone planning to use them in future to do their due diligence to avoid tragedies. I do not doubt in the slightest that your animals are like your children. The fact that you knew Petsafe existed tells me that. I just don't want to see anyone lose their beloved family member because of the decline of a previously amazing program, so calling the airports ahead of time to ensure things like the Petsafe van's AC being operational at their specific location is one way to try and prevent this. I know I'd be heartbroken if I lost my Peter and I would never want you to lose your furry family members. If something DID happen to your animals and I hadn't said anything about the apparent decline of the program, then I would forever feel guilty.

I wish your whole family the safest and most comfortable of travels and hope that everything goes as well for you now as it has in the past, with all my heart.

[Flames9_RN 358]

TY for your concern...truly (no sarcasm) I read those reviews prior to 2011 when we flew to Nicaragua.....But my 1st hand experience with them has been excellent. Plus I have talked with many others that have used them and they have had no issues. I have a bit larger network to get info from, so very happy to continue to use petsafe. There are other more private options available...

But more importantly, I hope the cats air travels go well today.

[pro_star 52]

Just don't fly air Canada with your dogs.

Oi. What a snafu that was. (Years ago, when mine was still young....after that decided I wouldn't fly her ever again, just too stressful on her...luckily she's good in the car so we've had some fun road trips

[Flames9_RN 358]

I think it was Air Canada that made the news last yr....Think it was in California somewhere----someone opened the cage and the dog got out and escaped----not a happy ending, so will leave it at that.

My two dogs are not fans of car rides--I just can't win,lol

[simistar 2]

PHEW!

BIG sigh of relief - our big fat cat made it through!:-)

No rabies shot and no certificate of health...

I haven't been able to talk too much with my husband (the one who took the flight with the cat) - but I don't even think a vet looked at the cat? I will double check this and post again.

He did say they made him take the cat out to put the bag through the xray machine thingy...this is NOT a friendly cat and super high strung, so he suggested he be allowed to take the cat out in a room, so they let him do that so the cat wouldn't run away.

He had to be there 1/2 hour before usual for catching his flight.

We gave our cat some zilcene (basically the same thing that's in turkey that makes us sleepy) that the vet recommended...she said sometimes it MIGHT make a cat a bit calmer like after a human drinks a glass of milk at night:-) OR it may not work at all... I think it did calm him a BIT...also used something called ThunderSpray (from petsmart) that I just sprayed in the carrier right before putting the cat in...it's like aromatherapy to calm cats:-) NOt sure if that did anything:-)

And just to clarify, for anyone wondering, this was a cat being brought from Canada (Vancouver) to California.

Now we just have one more cat to go! Yikes.

[Flames9_RN 358]

No--a vet won't check it over--well never has in our case....glad it worked out.

[keysjangle 145]

Yay! A vet never checked out our cats, I've never heard of them doing that.

The treats we had bought from PetsMart doped up our cats so well that we didn't have any issues pulling them out when their carriers had to be x-rayed. They were definitely anxious, but they were clinging to us like scared children rather than mortified cats, haha. The TSC agent on the other side of the scanner was super sweet and helped us get them back into their carriers as well

[simistar 2]

The stuff we used is called Zylkene (wrong spelling before) and is quite benign. I was too worried our cat would have an adverse reaction to any doping meds in the air. Zylkene is essentially just tryptophan - the same amino acid found in turkey that makes us sleepy after Christmas
dinner:-) The spray we used is a pheromone.

I had read somewhere from someone that a vet checks out the pets to make sure they look healthy and if they don't the pet can be quarantined. But I guess not! yay:-)